Lightroom/Photoshop: Fails to export with droplet if more than one file selected

This should now be fixed in the Photoshop 20.0.3 release.
Feel free to update Photoshop and let us know if this is resolved for you.

To update Photoshop CC to 20.0.3, click "Update" in the Creative Cloud desktop app next to Photoshop CC.
More detailed instructions for updating

Thank you for the report James!
Regards,
Pete

Thanks for letting us know, James.
We are investigating.

Thanks,
Sunil

I just tried my export preset with a droplet post-processing action with multple photos selected, and it worked fine on LR 8.1 / PS 20.0.1 / Mac OS 10.13.6.

John R,
Curious:  Are you using Mac or Windows?  I wonder if it is a Windows-specific issue.  I just tried mine again, but haven't yet updated to LR8.1, so will do that and try again. 

Since first posting this, I think I've found that it is a bug with Photoshop, not LR.  I'm currently running PS 20.01.  That is where I first noticed the problem. At the suggestion of another forum, I back-dated to a previous version of LR thinking that was the problem.  Same results.  Curiously thought, droplets made with previous versions of PS worked fine with current version of PS.  Lightbulb:  Maybe it's PS. So, I back-dated all the way to PS2017, created actions and droplets in each version from then to now.  No problem in the latest version of LR.  But, when I finally updated to the current version, any droplet created with 20.01. failed with LR (oh, BTW, with previous versions of LR also).  I've concluded that there is a bug in the way PS 20.0.1 creates droplets, at least in Windows.  Also, since originally discovering this issue, I've left PS 2018 installed and created dropets with it for current LR - no problem  So, I urge the team to look and test how PS 20 is creating droplets.  I'm convinced that is where the problem is.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Could not run the droplet because the file could not be found..

Since the update to version 20.0 I get this message when I try to run a droplet: 

Could not run the droplet because the file could not be found. 

Whenever I select 1 photo the droplet runs fine and does what it has to do. But whenever I select 2 or more photos the droplet gives me the error-message.

A workaround posted on another forum, at least for running directly on the droplet is to put all the images you want to process in a folder and drop that the single folder on the droplet.

Here's another possible workaround (for Mac only) that lets you invoke the Photoshop action directly from LR Export without using a droplet: 
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/lightroom-6-4-export-problem-with-droplets?to... 

I wrote it to work around a previous droplet bug several years ago (they seem to happen every year or two), and I haven't tested it with this bug, since I can't reproduce the bug.

As a workaround, I wrote a Windows version of my script that invokes the action directly rather than via droplet:

1. Download and install the Run Any Command plugin.

2. Download the runaction.vbs script and place it in some convenient folder.

3. Change the export preset to do After Export: Do Nothing (instead of running the droplet).

4. Insert the post-process action Run Any Command.

5. Enter this command line in Run Any Command's "Command to execute":

"c:\users\john\runaction.vbs" "Auto Levels" "Default Actions" "{FILE}"

Replace "c:\users\john" with the location of where you placed the downloaded script. Replace "Auto Levels" and "Default Actions" with the Photoshop action name and containing action set that was formerly being run by the droplet (make sure they're quoted).

 

Thanks Pete.  I was hoping this would fix the problem. But, it persists although in a form that causes the droplet to not even be created.  I updated PS to new v.20.0.3 and created several "test" actions in that version.  The attached screenshot shows the latest test action ("Droplet Stroke Test", highlighted), the settings, and the resulting failure message.   The only difference in these screenshot settings and the latest test is that I added a "close file" step at the end of the action, still with no success.  

Previous PS v20 attempts made the droplet, but they would not work in LR if more than one file selected as a post-process droplet.  This time, the droplet wouldn't even create in PS v.20.0.3.  

As I did in previous troubleshooting (mentioned above), I retained the older PS CC2017 version, tried the exact same action, and the droplet was successfully created as in the past.  Still unclear why this latest update that is supposed to fix this appears not to do so, at least in the Windows platform.  Please continue to have this looked at.  


Thank you.